No. It is a total lie, and one repeated by many politicians in parliament and elsewhere. The story arises from an inept interpretation of the medical term ‘marasmus‘ which appeared on many death certificates of infants. Marasmus is a form of malnutrition which arises from the failure of the patient to absorb sufficient nutrients to sustain life. If a doctor certifying a death suspected the death was due to starvation, then he/she would use the term ‘death due to starvation’. Marasmus appears on death certificates belonging to many infants in all of Ireland’s maternity hospitals. If it is an indication of starvation, why was there no commission of investigation established to look at potential cases of murder at these institutions. The answer is simple, marasmus was not starvation and yet, troublingly, no politician has admitted a mistake and apologised. The commission, on this issue, agree based on the advice of a paediatrician.
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